I always thought this was a pretty cool fish. We could never have one in our tank because it would kill all the other fish including our shrimp. It’s called the lion fish. This fish shoots venom out of its needle-like dorsal fins purely out of defense. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. It will often spread its pectoral fins and herd small fish into a confined area where it can more easily swallow them. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal. However, if it were to sting a fish, the fish would die.
The lion fish is native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific. The largest a lionfish can grow is about 15 inches but the average is about a foot. They are even popular as food in some parts of the world, but are far more popular in an aquarium.
1 comment:
very interesting! Have you been scuba diving to see some of these creatures?
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